Posts Tagged ‘linux hosting’

Linux is the most popular platform for use by web hosting companies as it is low cost and Linux servers are easy to maintain, providing web hosting companies with a win-win situation as they are able to offer highly profitable web hosting plans whilst reducing the amount of effort that will need to be put in to maintain the server. Linux shared hosting plans are often seen as the cheapest web hosting packages available because you are combining an open source operating system with the cheapest form of web hosting, the result of which will be web hosting services that pretty much anyone can afford, although the specifications of shared web hosting plans are only generally suitable for users with the most basic of needs. There are many different Linux distributions to choose from if you are looking into using Linux VPS server hosting or Linux dedicated server hosting, providing you with the opportunity to develop a completely custom web hosting service that will be able to meet your Linux hosting needs. The benefit of using a specialist Linux web hosting company is that they will be able to provide you with support that is tailored towards the operating system and if you face any issues with your Linux web hosting service then their technicians should be able to sort the issue in no time at all. As Linux is an open source operating system, it is offered by most web hosting providers meaning that there will be a large number of Linux hosting companies to choose from.

Benefits of Using the Linux Operating System

There are many benefits to using the Linux operating system in a web hosting environment, especially for consumers who are looking for low-cost web hosting services. The main benefits that are available from using Linux web hosting include:

Open source – as the Linux operating system is open source, it allows web hosting companies to offer low cost web hosting services without compromising the quality of the web hosting service provided – when compared to commercial platforms such as Windows, open source operating systems are able to provide the benefit of full access to the operating system source code meaning that modifications can be made to the core of the platform if required as some larger web hosting providers may choose to do this if they are looking to offer improved levels of security and a more stable platform than what other web hosting companies can provide

Reliability – when compared to Windows web hosting plans, Linux web hosting plans are seen as being more reliable and can provide customers with a worry-free web hosting experience – the issue that many web hosting companies are trying to overcome is downtime because this can be a major disadvantage to businesses that rely on their websites to provide them with a source of income, whether that be through advertising or sales of a product, because in such situations downtime can cost money – it is recommended that you choose a web hosting plan that can provide you with an uptime guarantee, simply so you know what to expect from your web hosting package

Security – the security of Linux web hosting servers is seen as being stronger than that of a Windows server because there are many different measures that can be taken to provide a high level of security to Linux hosting customers – as well as using software firewalls to improve the level of security surrounding a Linux web hosting server, hardware firewalls are also recommended as well as measures to prevent SQL injections that could potentially take place through hosted web pages that are using weak code.

Disadvantages of Using Linux Web Hosting

There can also be disadvantages to using the Linux platform under some circumstances, include but not limited to:

Management – the management of Linux servers can be seen as being an issue in some situations because you can only manage a Linux server through the command line over SSH meaning that you need to have some sort of basic knowledge as to how the Linux operating system functions so that you know what commands to use to complete certain tasks that will need to be done as part of maintaining your server – however, if you are inexperienced with server management then you can always consider using a fully managed Linux server hosting service as a way of having your needs met because this will take the responsibility of managing your Linux server away from you and will pass it on to an experienced support team who will do a professional job of it – if you do have experience with managing Linux servers then you can use this to your advantage by purchasing an unmanaged Linux server which you can then manage yourself, saving yourself money in the process

Hacker target – because Linux is so widely used by large businesses and web hosting providers alike, Linux servers are often one of the main targets for hackers that are looking to gain access to systems illegally to steal the data and other information held on them – this can be an issue for some because it means that more advanced security measures have to be taken to protect Linux web hosting servers and the data that they hold and this can cost web hosting companies both time and money to ensure that the task is completed to a high level.

In conclusion, there are many different Linux web hosting companies to choose from and because of this you should consider each company based on their own merits as opposed to what they are able to offer in terms of web hosting plans as there is likely to be little difference between the services provided by individual web hosting companies. For the most part you won’t need to be worrying about the Linux distribution that is being used unless you are using Linux dedicated web hosting and have highly specific requirements as this will provide you with an opportunity to select an OS that has been designed for a specific purpose.

Green web hosting is a new approach that many web hosting companies are taking with the way in which they are offering their services, providing businesses that are looking to cut down their carbon footprint with another way in which this can be achieved. Through a variety of different methods web hosting companies are able to reduce the carbon footprint of their web hosting services so that the use less energy without compromising the quality or the performance of the service that is being offered. Any web hosting company can take a few basic measures so that they can say that they offer green web hosting, but there are some specialist web hosting companies that go one step further and invest greatly in power generation technologies so that they are able to deliver a truly green web hosting experience to customers. Depending on how you go about it green web hosting may only be available at a premium, but most web hosting companies have now invested in power-saving equipment that uses less electricity whilst providing more power which will help to reduce their overall carbon footprint without having to increase the costs of their web hosting services.

What defines green web hosting?

Green web hosting is a type of web hosting that is defined by several different features that may differ between web hosting providers. These features consist of:

Power usage of equipment – the power usage of equipment can play a big factor in how green a web hosting company is because if they are using old and outdated equipment then this obviously wouldn’t have been manufactured to meet the current standards with regards to energy consumption – in order for a web hosting company to be able to provide green web hosting services, it is important for them to have invested in modern servers and networking equipment that are much more economical with the way in which they use energy and are able to provide a higher level of performance whilst using less energy – however, it is still going to be the case of the more powerful servers using up more energy than smaller, less powerful servers, but techniques can be applied to help stem the need for further servers such as the use of virtual machines

Where the energy comes from – one of the most important factors for web hosting companies to consider if they wish to promote green web hosting is where the energy that powers their servers and network equipment comes from because if it is provided by fossil fuel-powered power stations then this isn’t going to aid them with the promotion of green web hosting to any extent – many data centres are now adding wind turbines on their own sites as this will allow them to generate their any electricity, whilst any spare capacity can be sold back to the National Grid which will provide any data centre with the opportunity to generate an extra source of income whilst reducing their own electricity costs through the reduction in reliance on external power suppliers

Community involvement – some web hosting companies may choose to get involved with the local communities in which they are based with activities such as tree planting as these will allow the company to offset their carbon emissions to some extent by planting new trees that will be able to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by the web hosting provider’s activities – tree planting schemes can be costly and so for the most part web hosting providers don’t get involved to a great extent, but at the end of the day involvement in such schemes help to promote a positive company image and will aid them with the promotion of green web hosting services.

Are there any disadvantages to using green web hosting?

For individuals there can be some downsides to using green web hosting that need to be considered when weighing up the advantages of green web hosting. Such disadvantages may include:

Cost – because of the extra investment that takes place in more expensive technologies in order to allow web hosting companies to offer green web hosting services, the cost of green web hosting services can be more expensive than web hosting services that are hosted on older hardware appliances and less energy-efficient data centres and this can place green web hosting services outside the budgets of many smaller businesses that are simply looking to establish their web presence, as at this time it is generally larger businesses that are looking to develop their green presence in multiple ways as a method of improving their corporate image

Verifying green credentials – in some cases, particularly with smaller web hosting companies, it can be hard to verify the green credentials of the web hosting business because although some claim to be participating in tree planting schemes and using energy efficient hardware, verifying such claims can be very hard – however, most web hosting companies host their hardware in large data centres that usually put in efforts to offer green server hosting services meaning that if a web hosting company does claim to be using a data centre that offers green hosting then such claims are easier to verify than others.

In conclusion, green web hosting will allow businesses to reduce their carbon footprint which in-turn will allow them to improve their corporate image, especially to customers who are conscious of a business’s ethical and environmental policies. There are many different measures that web hosting companies can take to claim the green web hosting badge, but in order to offer carbon neutral web hosting services a web hosting provider will need to be actively engaged in community projects which involve growing trees and other environmentally tasks, whilst investment in modern servers and other hardware will need to take place to reduce a web hosting provider’s overall energy consumption. However, the investment will need to be passed on to the customer and so you may find that some green web hosting services carry an extra premium, this usually being with web hosting companies that specialize specifically in green web hosting.

A CMS (content management system) will provide you with a better alternative to how you can manage your website and will make it easier for you to add and modify the content that you display to your visitors. CMS systems are based on various scripting languages and there are different CMS systems available for different scenarios and web hosting platforms meaning that choosing one to integrate with your web hosting service shouldn’t be too much of a task on its own. Any content management system should be expandable through the use of plug-ins that are available; most open source CMS systems have large plugin databases for you to choose from as you wish, although the number of plugins available for commercial CMS systems is going to be smaller simply because it is unlikely that there is going to be such a large user base. A web hosting account capable of hosting your CMS based website will be available depending on the exact CMS system that you have chosen to use because all content management applications will have different requirements in terms of the scripting language that has been used as well as the database application that is required to drive the backend.

Budget web hosting is usually a hosting company that charges no more than £10 per month for hosting one website. Most budget web hosting companies provide a minimum one year hosting plan for their customers. The main thing to consider when going with a budget web hosting firm is whether you are compromising on service by choosing a cheap hosting package.
Finding a budget web hosting company can be a complicated task because there are so many budget web hosting companies to choose from. If you search in Google or Yahoo for budget web hosting, you will find there are around 5 millions results. So in order to whittle down your search for a budget web hosting firm, you need to identify the one that best suits your needs. The necessary things that should be considered in the search for a budget web hosting company include:

How professional is the budget web host?

The main thing to consider when evaluating a budget web hosting company is its home page on its website. Does it look professional and can you find all the information you need easily. Secondly, can you readily find the company’s contact information? Do they mention their contact number, email address or physical address? If they do not provide any contact information, then it may be best to leave them, as they may not be reputable, nor have a solid business foundation in place. Another thing to look for is the support functions that the budget web host provides. Do they provide technical support, live chat or e- mail services?

Does the budget web host give a satisfaction guarantee?

It is a wise move to find a budget web hosting company that provides a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee term to its clients. This way, you can trial the budget web host for a length of time and decide if you are happy with the service you receive. If you are not, then you can move your site to another hosting company and receive your money back. Most companies will offer a money back guarantee term; usually within 30 days of purchasing the hosting plan. If they do not guarantee the money back then it may be worth looking elsewhere for a budget hosting plan.

What is the budget web host’s uptime guarantee?

The uptime guarantee means the percentage of time that the hosting company assures that your site will be live on the internet. Several budget hosting companies provide 99% uptime, which means that they guarantee that the site will work 99 % of the time.

In short, opting for budget web hosting shouldn’t mean you have to compromise features, service or quality. Just do your research thoroughly and hopefully you will find a budget hosting plan that enables you and your business to make the most of the internet.

Affordable web hosting packages are sometimes referred to as low cost web hosting services and can provide you with high quality web hosting packages for a very low cost when compared to other forms of web hosting. Affordable web hosting services tend to be offered by smaller web hosting companies that specialist in more offering more custom web hosting packages, although larger web hosting companies normally have the power to offer the best affordable hosting services when you consider the resources and features that you are going to get for your money. Linux shared hosting packages are the most popular affordable web hosting services with web hosting providers because the fact that Linux is an open source operating system allows them to reduce their overheads for each individual hosting service, thus making affordable web hosting packages cheap. If you wish to make the most of an affordable web hosting package then you should consider choosing one that can offer you the best features for your money, in some cases it doesn’t have to all be about resources. By choosing affordable web hosting you may be sacrificing key elements that would otherwise offer you a complete web hosting experience; one of these elements could be the level of support that you are offered, and if you are a beginner then this could be the wrong move to make.

You will be provided with control panel access for a majority of web hosting services that are available these days. Any good web hosting provider should offer you access to a control panel so that you are able to manage your own shared hosting account fully, whilst control panels are usually an optional extra for those using VPS server hosting and dedicated server hosting. The main purpose of a control panel is to manipulate the operating system and the various applications that are being run to deal with the hosting of multiple domains and allow web hosting companies to hand control of their hosting accounts over to their customers rather than having to deal with a multitude of support requests. The control panels available for your use will depend on the web hosting platform that you’re using; although there are different control panels available for both Linux hosting and Windows hosting, most share the same common features but may function in different ways. Control panel access is provided for free with a shared web hosting package because it will allow your web hosting companies to manage their servers much more easily, whilst with dedicated hosting you are probably going to have to pay for a license.

cPanel is a Linux web hosting control panel used for shared web hosting services and dedicated web hosting services that are based on the Linux operating system. Providing you with many features that will allow you to make the most of your web hosting package, cPanel offers very good value for money for both shared web hosting customers and those that are using VPS server hosting or dedicated server hosting. The control panel offers you many features that will supplement the FTP access that you are provided with because it means you can create databases and manage email accounts for your website, all of which can fundamentally be seen as core components of any web hosting service. cPanel should never be seen as a defining feature of any web hosting package because it is so widely used; instead you should focus more on the resources that are offered as well as features that accompany cPanel because any cPanel hosting service is going to be the same as another at the heart. The one popular benefit of using cPanel is that it allows web hosting companies to offer low-cost web hosting services in both the shared hosting sector and the dedicated hosting sector.

The internet is fast becoming both a business and household necessity. With the economy presently in troubled waters, the internet provides a cheap, low maintenance, yet globally reaching market place to sell and purchase goods. The internet is also the only platform by which small and medium sized enterprises can compete on an even playing field with larger companies. As long as they have a professional, up-to-date and interactive website, small businesses can give impression of being a much grander enterprise.

So, it is easy to see why more and more businesses are going online. But in order to make the most of what the internet can offer your business, you don’t just need a good website, it is also important to choose a good web hosting company.

Web hosting

Web hosting is a service that enables a website to be accessible on online. In order to make a website live, it has to be hosted on a server which is owned and managed by a web hosting company and connected to the internet. There are several types of hosting services available, so it is important to choose the hosting plan that suits you and your website’s
requirements. Below are some good tips to help you find the best hosting plan.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is a hosting service where the server is shared by a number of different websites.

Shared hosting is the most affordable hosting service and is generally used by webmasters who have basic websites with basic hosting requirements. With shared hosting the server is managed by one hosting company who provides server maintenance and customer support. The level of support provided varies from company to company and can depend on the plan chosen. Therefore before signing up to a hosting plan, it is a good idea to ensure that the package you choose suits the exact requirements of your website, both today and if your enterprise grows.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting provides clients who have large or feature-heavy websites with their own server.

Dedicating Hosting is the best solution for large companies who need to secure their data and who need to run resource- heavy databases or software on their websites. Dedicated hosting is commonly chosen when a company does not want their websites to share resources with other websites where they could be negatively affected by problem code etc.

Windows Web Hosting

It is important to understand the different hosting platforms that are being offered by the hosting companies you are looking to host your website with. The most common platforms are Linux and Windows. Although Linux hosting is primarily the most common hosting environment, Windows is the platform which is used by developers who use Classic ASP or ASP.net code and have SQL server databases in their websites.

Linux web hosting

The Linux web hosting platform has a great deal to offer as a hosting environment. As well as excellent reliability, Linux is flexible, open source and can handle heavy traffic.

E-Commerce Hosting

E-Commerce hosting is a type of hosting that can run on either Linux or Windows hosting platforms. It provides all the marketing and/or advertising tools for a website, something which could be a great asset for those just starting up a business. For those websites which run financial transactions and hold and secure personal information, e-commerce hosting may also be the best solution.